Saturday, 2 June 2012

La Sera

La Sera is the solo project of Vivian Girls bassist Katy Goodman (aka Kickball Katy). While I love Vivian Girls, La Sera pull off that extremely rare feat where a side-project is actually better than an artist's "main" band.

With two albums under her belt, the self-titled release in 2011, new record Sees the Light completes a double whammy of wonderful tunes that deserve a much wider audience.

Who can resist the sugary guitars and lullaby vocals of Never Come Around? And to top things off it is also accompanied by a fantastic and playfully gruesome promotional video.

The first album is a real pleasure, full of bright and dreamy guitars it's a perfect pick-me-up, but if I had to pick a favourite however, it would be Sees the Light which has a wider range of songs and moods, the swagger and triumphant breakup of Love that's Gone is swiftly followed by the fast-paced Please Be My Third Eye, then you have the shimmering guitars of I'm Alone and the low fuzz of How Far We've Come. It's a bit like the debut set everything up for the second album to blow everyone away, the songs are just great (as they also are on the debut).

I also had the pleasure of catching a show in Williamsburg at the Cameo Gallery where the band pulled off an incendiary 50-minute set which was full of energy and style. Backed by members of Darker My Love, La Sera are a much tighter live unit than you would expect from a side-project, catch them if you can!

(Photo by me. Though we were right at the front which wasn't the best spot for photos!)

Lead promotional video from Sees the Light is for Real Boy / Drive On which features more of that twisted humour.

Also, as a fellow cat lover I'm happy to report that Katy posts regular photos of her felid companion, Walt.